


I'm a mess

by Glowcloudwasright



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Beta designs, Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, Luz has been through a lot, The Owl House Beta Concept Art, Underage Drinking, after YBOS, but with the betas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28970493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowcloudwasright/pseuds/Glowcloudwasright
Summary: It's been more than a week since they fought Belos. Everything seems back to normal around them, and even if they don't regret anything, they can't ignore some of the obvious consequences of their little stunt.The gang goes to a party in an attempt of relaxing and doing normal stuff for a change. Luz makes a few bad decisions but luckily, Amity is there to help her. She helps her more than any of them anticipates.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Beta design Amity Blight/Beta design Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 6
Kudos: 172





	I'm a mess

**Author's Note:**

> hello again! I've been kind of MIA but I had this idea floating around for a while and finally finished it, hope you enjoy it!
> 
> First time writing the betas too!

How does a labeled dangerous criminal, two instigators of a revolution and a rich aristocrat end up all together at a house party?

It sounds like the start of an overly specific joke but that’s exactly the situation the 3 witches and token human found themselves in. Although none of them was exactly sure why. 

But perhaps Gus had a point when he suggested it, they needed some time to unwind and get to act like normal teenagers for once. The comment had earned him an unsure side glance from Willow and a scoff from Amity, but it was certainly a surprise when Luz agreed. 

Luz, who usually preferred to stay home and watch some lame movie or have a fight in an empty parking lot, was very much on board with her friend’s suggestion of attending Skara’s latest party. Luz, who had had, to put it kindly, the shittiest week anyone could have. 

Everything had started as usual, just another week at the Owl House, attending classes at Hexside, until everything went south quick. Eda’s curse had worsened, and in an attempt to help her, Luz went up against the Emperor himself. Not intentionally of course, but that’s usually what happens when you try to steal an ancient relic from his castle and you get caught, or taken prisoner by your mentor’s sister, same thing. 

It was hard to explain, even harder to talk about. But, as always Willow and Gus were on board with whatever Luz was planning, they even managed to get Amity on board with their ridiculous plan. 

The three witches weren’t exactly sure of what went down inside the castle, they had their hands full with a very casual instigation to revolution to pay attention to it all, and Luz refused to give much detail about it, as was King, if only to respect Luz’s privacy. 

Only a few things were certain: Eda was safe, Lilith was also somehow safe and on relatively good terms with her sister, their magic was mostly gone due to the effects of the curse and oh, right, Luz was trapped on the Boiling Isles.

As far as the authorities concerned, Luz wasn’t a criminal, she hadn’t even been inside the castle according to official records, but everyone on the Isles saw the news and a few recognized the familiar figure. Charges also weren’t extended towards Willow, Gus and Amity, they weren’t sure why but it was almost certain Amity’s influences had something to do with that, if only not to tarnish the family name any further. 

And so, a week had passed and everything was coming back to normal. To everyone except the group who had lived through such occurrences and was now living with the consequences. 

Nothing too big, nothing too serious. Except for Luz, who had basically lost her only way to go back home and seemed… fine?

Eda was the first to talk to her, alongside King, the morning after going back to the Owl House, and in her usual cheery and smug demeanor, Luz assured her everything was okay. No charges, no one had died (ouch) and she could still attend school. She, Lilith and Eda would find a way to recover her magic, while learning all they could about wild magic and glyphs and then they would certainly (hopefully) find another way for Luz to go back home. 

_ “Easy as pie, right?” _

_ Eda and King shared a side glance at the off-putting comment. They knew Luz could be optimistic, sometimes bordering on naive, but this didn’t seem right.  _

_ “Alright, kid. If you say so.” Was Eda’s only answer. Maybe the human just needed some time.  _

_ King wasn’t one to talk much anyway, so he just took his usual spot by Luz’s sleeping bag and cuddled a bit closer to her than usual. This didn’t go unnoticed by Luz, especially since she didn’t sleep that night. Or the ones that followed.  _

  
  


“So, what do we do now?” The four teenagers stood awkwardly by the doorway when Gus asked. The fact that it was his idea didn’t exactly mean he knew what to do. 

But the ambiance wasn’t exactly inviting, not to them at least. The loud music was blasting from every discernible corner, and the thumping of the bass was audible from almost a block away. Inside was no better, with teenagers running around and screaming over the loud music with careless abandon, courtesy of the ridiculous amounts of alcohol available or just the general inhibition the excuse of a party offered. 

Willow and Gus turned to look at Amity, the only one of the four of them who had some sort of experience with this stuff. 

“What?” She asked, noticing the expectancy on her friend’s face and crossing her arms defensively. “I don’t know either! I usually just show up and leave early when everyone is too drunk to notice I’m gone.”

Luz didn’t seem to notice their little conversation, or maybe she didn’t care, she just kept eyeing around the place with an unreadable expression. 

“Let’s scatter then.” The human girl said plainly, and without another word or a glance walked away.

Gus and Willow shared another glance and shrugged, but Amity stayed watching the human walk away. That was odd, for Luz at least. 

After the events of last week Amity was way beyond the point of pretending she didn’t care about the human, she damn well knew she had developed certain feelings for her even, as inconvenient as that was. 

That didn’t mean she was ready to shout it from the rooftops, but perhaps starting by keeping an eye on Luz tonight was good enough.

Since Amity left too without another word, sporting her signature menacing glare, Gus and Willow followed suit. Standing around the doorway all night wasn’t what they came here to do. But what exactly did they come here to do, again?

Amity rarely blended in a crowd, either because of her unruly mane of green hair or the commanding presence that was a staple of the Blight family. Luz was exactly the opposite. 

You would think that the only human in all of the Boiling Isles would stand out, but that was rarely the case. Luz blended pretty well amongst any crowd, she was kind of proud of that even, but also made it very hard to see where she had gone off to. 

Amity searched that annoyingly red beanie everywhere, to no avail. When a group of teenage girls led by Skara suddenly swarmed around her, it was just futile. She couldn’t see a thing beyond the swarm of witches in front of her and was forced to make small talk. She wondered if could get through the night without setting anything on fire. 

Luz, on her part, walked around aimlessly. She didn’t really know what she was looking for or where she was going, but standing still had always been hard for her. Maybe she should have dragged someone with her, maybe Gus, just to protect him from the older, reckless witches around; or Willow, who seemed just as out of her comfort zone as her, or maybe Amity so they could get a few laughs at the expense of the drunken idiots. 

She knew she could use some laughs. 

But she had again run away, without even thinking about it, and her friends were nowhere in sight. She tried not to think too hard about it.

Somehow Luz had wandered inside the huge kitchen, where some snacks and even more bottles and cans layed around for whatever purpose. 

She had barely stepped foot into the kitchen when a girl she didn’t recognize wrapped an arm around her shoulders, dragging her towards a group of witches, some of them Luz at least knew from school. 

She absolutely hated being dragged around, not to mention the smell of hard liquor and bad decisions coming from the girl was less than pleasant, but her brain was working much too slowly these days.

More shots and bottles of stuff she didn’t recognize surrounded her, definitely liquor but none she had ever seen in the human world. A shot of some purple bubbling liquid was shoved in her hands and the group surrounding her was downing it in seconds, and before she realized, she was in the middle of some drinking game she didn’t quite understand but was somehow winning.

The night quickly passed her by, or not, she wasn’t sure how much time had actually passed, but in a moment of clarity, Luz realized she was out of the kitchen, on a balcony somewhere around the house playing a heated round of beer pong with some people from the beast keeping track. 

Luz was seeing double, probably triple by then, but that didn’t stop her from scoring a few points for her team and enjoying the drunken praises of her peers.

Either way, she might have shot a bit too high and a bit too forceful her last shot, making the ping pong ball land square on the other guy's eye, who doubled over in pain. But to be fair, his face was covered in eyes, it wasn’t completely Luz’s fault.

“Woops.” The human said simply, while a half-guilty smirk crept on her face. It was kind of funny.

“What the hell are you laughing at?” The guy stood up straight to glare down at her, and it wasn’t until then that Luz noticed he was a good two heads taller than her. Not that she ever paid attention to those things when she picked up fights.

“So what if I am?” Luz growled back, pushing the guy a bit too forcefully back. 

That obviously only managed to piss him off, but Luz was ready to throw fists at some other of his eyes.

The guy cursed under his breath and walked up to Luz again, readying a punch.

“Bring it, big guy.” Luz said smugly, holding up her fists but still swaying clumsily. 

“Luz?” A familiar voice caught her attention at the precise moment of clarity, and soon after a stout girl with her hair up in a bun marched towards the table, to stand between the angry witch and Luz. Luz instantly recognized her.

“Viney!” She called, slurring her words slightly and way more cheerily than a few seconds ago. “I didn’t know you were here!” 

And thank the Titan she was, because by the looks of it, Luz was about to land herself in a fight with some guy from her track.

Luz stumbled with the table on her way to greet Viney, as if the older girl needed any more signs that she was drunk. Some of the people around the table calmed the pissed off multi-eyed teenager enough to resume the game, this time without Luz.

“You came here alone?” Viney asked her, slight amusement in her voice at how much of a fool Luz was making of herself. 

“Nooo! No!” She answered, a bit too loud. “I’m here with my friends! I love my friends...” 

“Sure…” Viney answered with a raised eyebrow. She had never seen Luz like that, but Emira had mentioned she had had a “rough” week. 

Viney had seen the news too. Rough was an understatement.

When Luz turned back towards the table and grabbed a red cup, Viney rushed to stop her. 

“Hey! How about we go find Amity?” The shorter girl asked, pulling Luz away from the table and from her latest supply of alcohol. 

“Sure! I love Amity, es tan linda. Y enojona.” Luz cheered and allowed herself to be dragged away. This was worse than herding griffins, but Viney didn’t feel good leaving her friend like that. 

Viney and Luz made their way downstairs, and the shorter witch nearly had to carry Luz just to keep her from falling down the stairs. This is why she stayed away from parties. 

“There you are.” Another voice called from the living room. A green-haired witch, but not the one they had been looking for. 

“Sorry, I ran into someone.” Viney excused herself, jabbing a thumb towards her barely awake friend clinging to her shoulder.

“Luz?” Emira asked, eyeing disheveled the human. 

“You look terrible.” Edric commented nonchalantly, not that anyone disagreed.

“Pfft, you look worse.” Luz answered, still slurring her words before muttering something that sounded faintly of “stupid, cute Blights.”

“Is Mittens here too?” Emira asked, looking around the place for her little sister. 

“Apparently.” Viney answered and Luz decided it was the perfect time to sit down at the bottom of the stairs, nevermind the number of people stumbling with her on their way down, one of which tripped and fell. 

“Oh yeah, we were looking for Mittens!” Luz blurted out, a bit too late since the older teenagers had carried on their conversation. “Amity… Mittens… Amittens!” 

The drunken mumbling didn’t go unnoticed, at least by Edric who found it hilarious. Em would have laughed too, she would have probably recorded her for backup blackmail at any other time, but after last week and after Amity confided in her about just how worried she was about Luz, she thought fair to cut her some slack. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Amity had been wandering around the party for hours, precisely since they had arrived. At least she had managed to lose Skara and the others, she wasn’t really in the mood to engage in small talk tonight. She had gone off to find Luz about an hour ago, to no avail. She had run into Willow and some of the other kids of the plant track, but no one had seen her. Neither had Gus, being much too engrossed in a game of Hexas Hold Em to notice. 

Still, a deep worry settled at the pit of her stomach the more she wandered through the house. She had been worried about Luz for too long, and it didn’t seem to dissipate once they were back safe in the Owl House; if only, her worry had grown stronger. 

Luz was clearly acting weird. They barely fought anymore, beyond some witty banter here and there, and even that was scarce. At lunch Luz seemed fine, joking around her friends, but she had been clearly distracted in class, at least the ones she shared with Amity. And if those dark circles under her eyes were indicative of anything, it was that she wasn’t getting much sleep. 

Perhaps she worried too much, Emira had said so, but how could she not? Luz had gone through a lot and she hadn’t even allowed herself a rest before jumping back into her usual routine. 

A few weeks prior, if anything similar had happened Amity would have known better than to get mixed up with it than to worry for some human. But a lot had changed since then. 

She was happy, she had friends, real ones, and it was all thanks to Luz. When Willow and Gus called her, rushing and out of breath to meet them at the town square and claiming Luz was in trouble, she had been more afraid than she had been in a long time, and for the first time, it wasn’t about her. 

Okay, maybe she was overreacting. Luz had gone up against the Emperor, dammit. She could handle a stupid party.

But then again, this was Luz she was talking about.

Maybe she got herself caught up on a stupid dare or a fight against a demon. 

The thought made Amity walk faster, still looking for that stupid beanie in the crowd.

Her gaze landed back towards the stairs. She hadn’t checked upstairs yet, but how far could Luz have gone? Not too far apparently, when she spotted the human girl splayed out at the last flight of stairs, looking around the room like a lost puppy. Next to her stood Viney, allowing Luz some form of support against her leg while the dual-track girl chatted with the twins.

That was never a good sign. 

“Edric! Emira!” Amity called, rushing towards her siblings. 

They quickly turned around and smirked. 

“Well, that was easy.” Edric said. 

His smile didn’t last long, in a matter of seconds Amity was grabbing him by the collar of his sweater, staring him down despite the clear height difference.

“What did you two do to Luz?!” She growled and Edric could only lift up his hands defensively.

“Hey, relax Mittens. We didn’t do anything.” Edric tried to keep the laughter out of his voice before his little sister could start throwing fireballs around. 

“She’s just drunk as hell.” Emira commented, although made no effort of getting Amity away from her brother. 

Amity then turned towards her sister, while Edric took the chance to scurry away and sit beside Luz, who didn’t seem aware of what was happening just yet.

“Emira, I swear-” Amity began but was quickly cut short by Viney.

“They’re telling the truth. I found Luz upstairs about to get beat up over some game of beer pong.” Viney’s tone was relaxed and honest as usual, so Amity settled down. 

You couldn’t blame her for not trusting her older siblings though. They had a tendency for pranks and mischief, especially at parties. But Viney was good, and a friend of Luz’s too on top of that.

Amity dared to glance down at Luz, who only noticed she was there when golden eyes locked with brown. 

“Hey, Ami! Where were you?” She yelled, standing up way too quickly and getting dizzy in the process. She would have fallen over if Viney hadn’t caught her. “Woops.”

Amity sighed exasperatedly. Luz just had a way to get on her nerves, tonight more than ever. 

The human took another tentative step towards Amity, only to stumble again, this time with Edric, and fall against Amity. Luckily she caught her in time, but their faces ended up much too close for her comfort and Amity was sure the heat on her face wasn’t only because of anger. Any ridiculous thoughts about those beautiful brown eyes and that lopsided grin were quickly erased when she got a sniff of Luz’s breath, and the pungent smell of every single liquor Luz had decided to put in her system. 

“You’re pretty.” Luz slurred against her face looking at her with huge puppy dog eyes.

Amity immediately turned her face away, trying to suppress the raging blush on her face and ignore the snickering of the older teens, who had heard Luz clearly. 

“Okay, party is over.” Amity said sternly, forcing the human girl to stand up straight, or as straight as she could. Kind of halfway there. 

“You need a ride?” Emira asked her. By the look her sister was giving her, she could tell she was being serious, something very rare for the twins, but she appreciated it. 

“It’s okay.” Amity answered and Emira nodded in response. 

“Well, I think you’ve been babysitting for too long.” Emira turned to look at Viney with her signature smirk, dragging the shorter girl with her away from the stairs. 

Edric settled at the stairs, apparently more comfy there than being his sister's third wheel. 

Amity said goodbye and Edric told her to text him if she needed anything, since Emira would probably be too busy to answer. With that, Amity set off to look for Willow, dragging a reluctant Luz with her. 

“Where are we going, hermosa?” She asked the witch, who did not understand the sudden pet name, allowing herself to be dragged around through the party. 

“We’re looking for Willow.” Amity answered simply, not as dryly as she thought she would, not like Luz was in any condition to help her find her friend. 

“Oh, I’ve got it.” Luz answered simply, with that dorky tone she always used. Suddenly she came to a halt, dragging Amity back, standing in place in the middle of the huge living room. 

The human girl took a huge breath and cupped her mouth with her hands, and before Amity could stop her, yelled at the top of her lungs Willow’s name in a hopeless attempt to find her among the crowd. 

Of course, the music was too loud and everyone was too busy in their own little world to pay any mind to Luz, except for a few units that turned to look at her and Amity like they had just grown a couple extra heads, which, would have probably been a bit more normal considering this was the Boiling Isles. 

Luz still looked around with half-lidded eyes, as if her plan could have worked in the first place. She got ready to yell again, but this time Amity put a hand over her mouth in time. 

“Are you done?” Amity said bitterly, glaring up at Luz. 

“There are other ways to shut me up, you know?” The comment came out muffled, but Amity heard her clearly. Could she ever catch a break? And what was with luz being all flirty all of a sudden?

“Guys, what the hell?”

Hey, maybe that was her break. That was definitely Willow coming into the living room from the backyard. She didn’t seem all that fazed about the proximity between her friends, or about the fact that Amity looked about two seconds away from passing out from stress. 

“Willow!” Luz yelled again, dragging out her name and precariously leaning on Willow's shoulder. “See, Ami? I knew it would work. There’s my favorite plant mom.”

Willow didn’t dignify that with an answer, she just turned to look at Amity with the expression of someone who was already so done with whatever was happening, but also kind of used to it.

“Should I ask?” 

Amity sighed again while rubbing her temples, the loud music was giving her a headache, and the way Luz always found her way to slump back against her side wasn’t helping either.

“Noceda here drank too much and almost got her ass kicked.” Amity answered, which seemed to snap Luz a bit more awake.

“Hey! I was not. I could have kicked his ass, weird kaleidoscope-looking fucker.” Luz went back to her half alert state, but leaning even more on Amity’s shoulder and mumbling incoherently. 

Amity in return wrapped an arm around Luz’s waist, at least so she wouldn’t fall to the ground again. No time to think about how her stomach was twisting itself in knots at the close proximity. At least Willow didn’t notice her internal panic. 

She did notice though.

“Are you taking her home?” Willow asked. 

“Yeah, before she gets into any more trouble.” 

“Good idea. Do you need help?” Amity considered it for a moment. Luz was taller than her and impressively strong for someone so slender looking, but Amity could manage. 

“It’s okay. Can you handle Augustus though? Last time I saw him Hexas Hold Em was getting a bit out of control.” She answered and immediately understood Willow’s frustrated sigh since she was dealing with a similar out of control teenager. When had they become the mothers of the group? Willow was accustomed to it but this was much too new to Amity. 

“Alright, I’ll go find him. Text me when you get home?” Willow’s calming tone somehow managed to relax Amity, if only a little.

“You too.” 

“Bye, friend! Make good choices!” Luz called and Willow laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Hopefully, Amity wouldn’t knock her out before taking her home.

With that both teenagers went their separate ways, Willow with a sure step and Amity with a slight limp caused by the girl still leaning against her, apparently making zero effort at standing up on her own. 

Once they were out of the house and far enough that the music was starting to muffle, Amity felt like she could breathe easy again. Or easier at least. 

“I was not about to get my ass kicked, you know.” Luz mumbled again, sounding offended at the earlier implication. Amity almost laughed at her tone, if she wasn’t currently very annoyed and mad at her. 

“Are you still hung up on that?” She asked, and Luz took it literally when she decided to hang from Amity's neck, wrapping both her arms around it and letting her body go limp. 

Both of them nearly met the pavement if Amity hadn’t acted quickly to shift Luz’s weight. 

Again they were face to face, but without the deafening music and the crowd around them, Amity was much too aware of everything.

Aware of Luz’s glossy, brown eyes. So tired looking and she wasn’t sure if it was exhaustion from the party or from her lack of sleep. Aware of how precariously her red beanie hung from her head, dragging with it soft, auburn curls. 

It took every bit of restraint from Amity to not take off the beanie and run her fingers through Luz’s hair, with the excuse of trying to comb it back down. 

Still, Amity wasn’t the only one staring at her companion for a moment too long, but she was, in fact, the only one with her brain-to-mouth filter still intact.

“Wow... you’re so beautiful.” Luz said, barely above a whisper, but Amity heard her clearly in the middle of the silent street. 

If she was lucky, Luz wouldn’t notice the blush that crept from her cheeks all the way to her ears. 

“Awwww, you’re all red!” But she wasn't that lucky. “Wait, you aren’t mad, right? You always get all red when you’re mad. Or when you’re about to punch me.”

Luz was rambling about everything and anything, while Amity prayed to the Titan that would distract her enough to compose herself.

“Where are we going? How did we get here?” Luz asked, snaking away from her side and walking precariously towards the street.

“Come back here before you get run over!” Amity said, yanking her back to the sidewalk. “I’m dropping you off at the Owl House.”

“Oh no, no, no, nope.” Luz said, more clearly than she had said anything all night and stamped her foot down like a little kid. 

“What do you mean “no”?” Amity asked her, annoyed at the sudden outburst.

“I can’t go to the Owl House. Eda can’t see me like this!” Luz pointed at her crooked beanie and messed up hair to emphasize, but Amity was having none of it. 

She wrapped an arm around Luz’s waist again, suddenly shutting her up and continuing to drag her down the familiar road towards the woods. 

“She’s a wanted criminal. I’m sure she won’t mind you had a few.” Amity said, still struggling with Luz’s weight.

“Nope.” Luz answered finally, dropping her weight down to sit criss cross, effectively dragging Amity with her against the pavement. 

Amity sighed again and took a second to calm down before burning Luz alive right then and there. 

“Why not,  _ Luz _ ?” Amity asked as calmly as possible, which wasn’t much. 

“‘Cause I’m a mess! Eda’s got a lot on her plate right now, she doesn’t need to worry about me… I’m a mess.” Luz said, sounding so sad that it almost broke Amity’s heart. 

The witch stood up and dusted off her pants, refusing to look at Luz’s eyes just in case her heart couldn’t take it. Still, she understood, somewhat. 

“Alright. Stand up.” Amity said firmly, supporting Luz against her side again. 

“I said I’m not going!” Luz complained again but allowed herself to be lifted up by the witch. 

“I know, you huge baby! We’re going to my place.” Amity explained.

“Wow, Blight. So forward.” And there was her usual annoying personality. Luz must have been sobering up. 

At any other moment, she would just answer with something witty and they would go back and forth until one of them changed subjects, or ended up punching the other. But tonight had been stressful and weird and Amity’s heart was working overtime, nearly beating out of her chest. 

“Shut up!” She managed to splurt out, maybe a few octaves too high. 

Luz only snickered. 

“What about your parents?” Luz turned to ask her, suddenly very serious. 

“They’re out of town until Monday. You’re good.” Amity answered plainly. She was not crazy enough to sneak a very drunk human inside her house with her parents there. 

The walk back to Blight Manor thankfully wasn’t that long, but keeping Luz from straying away from the path or falling proved to be a challenge for Amity. 

“What the hell did you even drink?” She asked the human, pulling her by the hand for the remaining blocks to her house. 

“I don’t know.” Luz answered pensively, scratching her head to try and remember the various drinks that were shoved in her hands throughout the night. “One of them tasted like candy. A super pretty girl gave it to me.” She finally said cheerily. 

Amity tensed at the comment and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She had never been the jealous type, or maybe she was and she had never cared enough, but since Luz had gotten herself some serious “bad girl cred”, in Gus' words, people flocked around her more often. Of course, the witch knew she had no right to be jealous, she and Luz were just friends, since not that long ago even, but that didn’t stop her. Trust her, she would have stopped it if she could. 

“Did she, now.” The witch muttered bitterly, but low enough to hope Luz wouldn’t hear her.

“Yeah, I think she’s from your track! But don’t be jealous, princesa.” Luz answered casually, still in her own little world. 

Amity tensed again, biting the interior of her cheek in an attempt to not say something too blunt and also stopping her raging blush. Who knew how flustered she could get while simultaneously being angry out of her mind, but Luz had that effect on her lately.

“Who said I was jealous, Noceda?” Amity retorted, making giant efforts to sound way calmer than she was. 

If she was mad before, the way Luz suddenly burst out laughing sure made her livid. “What the hell is so funny?!” 

Luz finally composed herself, wiping an actual tear from her eyes before answering. 

“Nothing. It’s just cute when you get jealous.” 

Amity started walking faster and pulling on Luz with more force than necessary, effectively wiping the smile from her face. Was Luz that aware of her bursts of jealousy or was drunk Luz just hyper-aware of everything around her all of a sudden? She knew she could be pretty obvious, Willow had poked fun at her a couple of times because of it, but Luz never seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. 

“I am not-” Amity began, voice laced with pure anger, but Luz quickly interrupted her.

“Sí, sí, sí. I know.” The human waved her off, like she already knew the excuse that was coming. Amity wondered for a second if she could punch the alcohol out of Luz’s system. 

Thankfully, the manor came into view on time. 

“Race ya!” Luz yelled, taking off on a frantic sprint towards it. 

“Luz! Come back here!”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Luz didn’t know where she was or how she had gotten there, nor did she know why her head was thumping so bad and her mouth felt dry like she had just swallowed sand. 

She sat up on the bed, a much comfier bed than the one she had back at the Owl House, and looked around to try and figure out where she was. 

A room, a painfully pink room. Adorned with posters of bands and books and a few Luz couldn’t make up, since they looked like they had been ripped off. Pretty recently too. 

A desk, a dresser and a huge bookshelf. 

“Oh.” Now she knew where she was, this was Amity’s room. 

She had never been inside it for longer than a few minutes, and she usually had to sneak in through the window to avoid her parents, but she remembered. 

Now, she would love to remember exactly how she ended up here. 

She looked around again, as much as the darkness inside the room allowed her, searching for the owner of the room to no avail. She did find the bedside table at least, with her trusty notepad and a neatly placed glass of water that Luz downed in seconds. She had never been so grateful about anything like at that moment. 

The clock next to it cleared some doubts.

_ 4:15 a.m _

Right, they were at a party. 

She had too much to drink. 

And then everything was a blur. 

Luz tried her best to focus and remember anything else. She distantly remembered talking to Viney, maybe the twins. What about? she wasn’t sure, and the harder she tried to think the worse her head throbbed. 

She remembered Amity and the walk down the unfamiliar street, at least bits of it. 

Luz settled back down on the bed with a sigh, holding to the glass of water for dear life. 

She could only hope this wouldn’t get Amity in trouble, but the witch was smart. Smarter than Luz cared to admit sometimes, just to mess with her.

When Luz understood that the glass couldn’t supply her with any other drop of water, she tried to go back to sleep. She was tired and her body ached, but she couldn’t stop moving around. 

The unfamiliar sheets weren’t uncomfortable per se, but they felt way too alien on her skin, or maybe it was the thought of being on Amity’s bed that bothered her. 

No, it wasn’t that, the faint smell of Amity’s perfume was the only thing keeping her somewhat sane actually. It was the feeling of not knowing what happened, of where exactly Amity was and just how much she had messed up that night that she had to crash at the Blight’s.

Luz had always hated being a nuisance. When it wasn’t on purpose, that is. 

All that tossing and turning wasn’t unfamiliar to her either. In fact, she hadn’t gotten much sleep in the past week. 

Every time she closed her eyes she saw it all again. Eda turned into the Owl Beast, Belos, the portal blowing up in a thousand pieces. 

Most nights, she woke up with tears streaming down her face and shaking. 

She didn’t even allow King to sleep in her bed anymore, as to not wake him up. It was actually so the tiny demon didn’t know about her nightmares and lack of sleep. 

Luz pushed the thoughts aside before her eyes could start to blur with tears. She ran a shaky hand down her messy hair and stood up. 

She really needed some water. And perhaps the Boiling Isles’ equivalent to an aspirin. 

She had never visited the manor formally, she only knew the backyard and a bit of Amity’s room, but she didn’t expect the long hallway, looking straight up out of an episode of Scooby-Doo. She should tell Amity that later, although she probably didn’t know what Scooby-Doo was.

The gothic decor was somewhat intimidating and the carpet in the hallway felt foreign under her feet, but at least it muffled the sound of her steps. If Amity had taken the risk to take her there, it was probably because her parents weren’t home, but she didn’t want to risk it. 

Luz descended the stairs carefully to a huge foyer, still no sign of Amity or any Blights in particular. 

After turning a corner Luz stumbled into a dining hall, which probably meant the kitchen had to be around there somewhere. Why was this stupid house so big anyway?

She finally reached the kitchen, and only then thought she should have brought her notepad with her. Some light could be useful. 

Her wishes came true instantly when the lights of the kitchen suddenly flicked on. 

Luz jumped back with a scream, turning around to find a figure standing behind her by the kitchen door. The combination of her headache, the remaining alcohol in her system and being blinded by the bright kitchen lights made it hard to see at first, but her eyes focused back on an all too familiar scowl. 

Amity was standing there, arms crossed and looking even more annoyed than usual. 

“Hey!” Luz greeted her with a guilty smile. 

She didn’t mean to get caught, but at least she had found her host. Her pink pajamas contrasted severely with the angry look she was giving her, but Luz didn’t dare to laugh or even look at those golden eyes that messed up with her head so badly. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Amity asked bluntly. 

Luz hadn’t been caught doing anything bad, but she still felt guilty.

“I, uhm, just wanted some… water?” Luz stuttered, which was unusual, and held up her glass to emphasize. 

Amity raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior and marched towards her. Luz stood perfectly still, and when Amity drew a quick spell circle with her finger she expected a fireball or any similar spell to hit any moment now, but it never hit her. Amity simply floated the glass from her hand and marched up to the fridge, filling up Luz’s glass and giving it back. 

Luz wasted no time before downing it completely, surprising Amity.

“Thanks.” She muttered, almost out of breath. She felt better. 

“You’re welcome.” Amity answered, eyeing her with an unreadable look. 

“I didn’t wake you up, right?” Luz asked, but she probably knew the answer already.

“You did, you walk like a giraffe.” Luz winced slightly, she had seen the giraffes they had at the Boiling Isles. Not as cute as the ones on Earth. “I thought you would be passed out until morning.”

“Yeah, about that…” Luz said, feeling guilty again. “What happened, exactly?” 

Amity sighed deeply and took a seat on top of the kitchen counter. Luz didn’t dare to move.

“You don’t remember anything?” The witch asked and Luz could only shake her head, nevermind how much it made her head throb again. 

“Well, you made a fool of yourself. Although that’s not news…” Amity said and Luz walked up to get some more water before hopping on the counter next to the witch. The familiarity of her insults was refreshing at least. 

“Haha, very funny.”

“Then you kept drinking, almost got into a fight, refused to let me drop you off at the Owl House, and here we are.” Amity explained nonchalantly. 

“I’m sorry…” Luz cringed at the coming memories, but the last part hit her back to reality. “Fuck, Eda must be so worried.”

“It’s okay, I called her.” Amity said calmly.

“You did?” 

“Well, she was asleep. That owl tube picked up the phone, don’t ask me how. Said he’d let her know you were with me.” Luz relaxed at her words and laughed imagining the exchange between Amity and Hooty. 

“Thanks.” Luz said again, softly. 

“You’re welcome.” Amity answered, barely above a whisper, and Luz tried to remember if she had ever seen her like this. So at peace and calm, no fire coming out of her hands or throwing sarcasm around. 

“You can’t sleep, can you?” Amity spoke up again after a few minutes. 

“It’s probably just the hangover.” Luz answered but Amity turned to look at her all too serious.

“And the rest of the week?” 

Luz looked down at the kitchen floor, checkered tiles that didn’t help her headache at all, but she refused to look at Amity’s eyes. Of course she knew what she meant, she wasn’t dumb and neither was Amity. But speaking about it still felt like too much, too raw. 

Too real.

“No.” Luz answered, still not looking back at the witch and hoped she wouldn’t ask her to elaborate on that or give her some more unsolicited advice like so many people had tried to do already.

“Come on.” Amity hopped off the counter in what swift movement and walked towards the kitchen door, leaving a puzzled looking Luz behind her.

Luz hadn’t expected that, and she really didn’t expect anything, but Amity was suddenly out of sight and she wasn’t about to stay in some strange kitchen by herself. 

She almost got lost down the hall again, but she saw a familiar green mane entering the foyer. 

By the time Luz caught up, Amity was opening the front door, seemingly unbothered by the cold night air, unlike Luz.

“Where are we going?” The brunette asked, suddenly wondering where her green jacket had ended up. 

“You ask way too many questions.” Amity answered annoyed, but Luz knew that tone, she wasn’t actually mad. Not yet at least. 

Luz wasn’t sure why she followed the girl outside, maybe she was still a bit drunk or just curious, but anyway she would follow Amity anywhere if she asked. 

Although she was starting to regret it when Amity stepped out of the front porch. At least she was walking slower for Luz to follow her, but stepping on the cold grass with her socks was near torture, especially with her headache. 

Amity dared a quick look over her shoulder, just to make sure Luz was following her and not passed out again somewhere. A small smile crept on her face watching Luz struggling to walk along the path without much light, not to mention without any shoes. 

A bit of payback for the night she had gone through. 

Luz quickly jogged to catch up with the witch but was still fairly confused about where they were going. The Blight’s property extended almost 100 meters behind the manor, and then it was acres and acres of dense forest. It was always well kept, short grass with decorative bushes upfront, with flowers Luz didn’t recognize, some had even tried to bite her before. The more the pair walked away from the house the more unkempt the grass looked, wild, like the one inside the forest. 

Fewer bushes and more trees could be seen, despite being scarce and far between, but Luz could still see where Amity was leading her. 

An old, huge tree, with purple bark and red leaves that reminded Luz faintly of autumn. It would be autumn soon in the human world anyway. 

It was late and Luz was sure that even if every light inside the manor was on, it still wouldn’t reach close enough to the tree to see where they were going, especially tonight that the moon could be barely seen among the clouds; but Amity moved so surely like she had made that trek to the base of the tree many times before. 

They walked silently, but the closer they got to the forest line the more apparent were the sounds of rustling leaves and night birds, perhaps even demons. Luz had sort of grown accustomed to the many sounds of the night creatures of the Isles. 

Finally, their walk was over once they reached the base of the enormous tree, where Amity sat down with her back resting against the wide trunk, facing towards the dark forest ahead. She didn’t say anything, but Luz still sat down next to her, allowing her head to rest against the bark to try to find some comfort for her headache. 

The breeze was cold, way too cold to be out at night with pajamas and a light shirt, in Luz’s case. But she couldn’t mind one bit. 

“I come here when I can’t sleep.” Amity said, voice barely above a whisper. 

Luz could definitely see why. It was so peaceful. 

The grass was cold and slightly damp underneath her body, Luz allowed her hands to fall to either side of her, taking handfuls of grass in her hands like she used to do when she was little. 

Luz took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh air coming from the forest, and allowed herself to turn to look at the girl beside her. 

Amity had her eyes closed but clearly wasn’t asleep yet. She was breathing steadily, taking in the night air in an almost meditative state. Luz had never seen the witch like this, so peaceful. It was nice. 

She turned back to look towards the forest. The same orange trees that surrounded the Owl House, she could probably even reach it from here if she walked deep enough into the forest. 

She had been staring out into the forest from her window every night since the incident. It helped her calm down, but the sight also carried some melancholy with it. 

She had only ever seen green trees outside her window every day of her life. 

Finally, Luz’s body gave in and she released the handfuls of grass, well aware of how her fingers had started to hurt because of the pressure. She had been carrying with her a good deal of pressure for the past month, not to mention for the past week. 

Her back ached all the way up to her neck and Luz wasn’t sure if it was because of her hangover or another injury from that day she chose to ignore.

But she couldn’t keep ignoring it. 

She couldn’t keep acting as nothing had happened, like the pressure inside her chest didn’t grow stronger each day and how sometimes she couldn’t even look at Eda’s now dual-colored eyes for longer than a few seconds. 

“I’m sorry.” Luz whispered and a single tear rolled down her cheek. 

Amity opened her eyes and dared to look at Luz from the corner of her eye. She believed Luz had a lot to apologize for after that night, but she knew she wasn’t talking about any of her drunken mishaps. 

One of Luz’s hands was suddenly warm with a foreign touch. She looked down to find Amity had laced their fingers together and was rubbing calming circles over the back of her hand, something so small but so reassuring. 

“You’re not a mess.” Amity said softly, still not daring to look Luz in her eyes. 

The human girl wasn’t sure why those words specifically made something inside her chest twist and turn until the tears overflowed her eyes again. 

Without another word Luz allowed herself to rest her head atop Amity’s shoulder. She felt the witch tense for a second and considered moving away, perhaps she had freaked her out or was still fairly mad at her, but when Amity’s other hand reached to tuck a strand of brown hair behind her ear, Luz couldn’t have been convinced to move away from such a delicate touch. 

They stayed like that for a while, until Luz’s body finally gave out and her eyes fluttered closed. 

“I am not carrying you back.” Amity muttered, barely awake much like Luz, but she could hear the smile on her voice.

The human girl smiled fondly at the comment and adjusted her head slightly to rest between the witch’s shoulder and the base of her neck. “I know.”

She was so, so tired.

Days of lack of sleep and pent up stress finally caught up to her and so Luz faded slowly. The lulling sounds around her sounding so distant now.

For the first time in too long, Luz got a full night of sleep and when she woke up the next morning, tucked safely in Amity’s bed again, she knew the witch hadn’t kept her promise. 


End file.
